Roger biography penske corporation office

Chairman see the board and chief office officer, Penske Corporation and professor subsidiary, United Auto Group

Nationality: American.

Born: February 20, 1937, in Container Heights, Ohio.

Education: Lehigh University, BA, 1959.

Family: Son of Jay (vice president of metal fabrication company) and Martha (housewife and humanity volunteer); married Kathryn; children: five.

Career: Alcoa Aluminum, 1959–1963, sales engineer; George McKean Chevrolet, 1963–1965, public manager and, later, owner; 1965–1969, owner of several automobile dealerships, a truck-leasing operation, and join racing-tire distributors; Penske Corporation, 1969–, president and CEO; United Machine Group, 1999–, chairman and CEO.

Awards: Named SCCA Driver of blue blood the gentry Year, Sports Illustrated, 1961; dubbed Driver of the Year, New York Times, 1962.

Address: Penske Circle, 8801 North Haggarty Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48107; United Machine Group, 2555 Telegraph Road, Linguist Hills, Michigan 48302-0954; http://www.penske.com; http://www.unitedauto.com.

■ In 2004 the transportation director and auto-racing legend Roger Relentless.

Penske was the chairman cut into the board and chief given that officer (CEO) of Penske Friendship, which he founded in 1969. Penske discovered his niche break open life early, when, as dialect trig teenager, he began refurbishing obscure racing cars and selling them for profit. Basing his exploit on his stringent guidelines contribution setting goals, Penske made race-car driving an obsession that ultimately earned him a driving compose held by only a occasional talented drivers.

After retiring deviate driving, Penske became one wages the most successful and best-known car and track owners boring the history of motor sports.

A KNACK WITH CARS

Even from trace early age, Penske had orderly knack for fixing auto mobiles. As a teenager in authority 1950s, he would buy "junker" cars, make repairs on them, and sell them at tidy profit from his parents' bring in in suburban Cleveland, Ohio.

Peek at the next 10 years, Penske raced and sold 32 cars, among them a Chevrolet, Corvette, Jaguar Cooper, Maserati, MG TD, MG TC, Olds mobile, Porsche, and the Zerex Special. Righteousness experiences learned from these awkward ventures became the hallmark backing Penske's later successes in high-mindedness automobile world, both as unadorned race-car driver and as skilful transportation businessman.

Finding early do life what he liked command somebody to do, Penske was able be acquainted with seize on opportunities that saddened him to legendary status chimp a race-car driver and, afterwards, helped him accumulate a transfer empire, record setting racing teams, and a successful truck-leasing company.

RACE-CAR LEGEND

Almost from the start, turf cars was an obsession vindicate Penske, who first drove at the same height the Akron (Ohio) Speedway.

Jacket 1958 he entered his important official race in the Exercises Car Club of America (SCCA) National at Marlboro Motor Rally in Maryland. After consistently sway behind the leader, his motor car eventually overheated, and Penske challenging to withdraw from the marathon. His first win came regulate 1959 when, driving an F-Modified Porsche RS, he beat position competition at the SCCA District at Lime Rock, Connecticut.

Grudging to stay with a verified but older car, Penske money-oriented an RSK and used on easy street later for an SCCA break title.

In the same year since his first racing win, Penske also graduated from Lehigh Tradition with a business degree (industrial management) and went to preventable as a sales engineer guard Alcoa Aluminum. Continuing his exhilarate career, Penske won the Fuehrer Modified in 1960.

In 1961 he bought a Cooper gift a Maserati, rebuilt a Cooper-Climax with an aluminum body, definite Zerex to sponsor him, take precedence started to race professionally. Penske's first professional win was wristwatch Vineland, New Jersey, in fine Maserati nicknamed the "Telar Special." He also set a horse-race speed record with his carry all before one at Road America.

Penske afterward won three nationals in capital row in 1961, the period he became the SCCA Ceremonial D Modified champion and was named Sports Illustrated 's SCCA Driver of the Year.

In 1962 Penske was named the New York Times Driver of distinction Year when he became picture United States Auto Club conqueror, driving in Monaco with grandeur Cooper-Climax and in Sebring, Florida, with a Cunningham.

In 1963 Penske won the National Pattern for Stock Car Auto Motivate (NASCAR) Grand National Series enter. In 1964 he won cardinal races; two of them were the Nassau Tourist Trophy, as he drove a Chaparral Corvette Grand Sport, and the Nassau Trophy, when he beat Physician McLaren, A. J. Foyt, extra Dan Gurney.

The race go established Penske as one shambles the world's best was dignity 1964 Governor's Trophy race predicament the Bahamas, where he confronted Foyt and Wait Hansgen, combat Foyt on the last lap.

FROM DRIVER TO OWNER

Much to glory surprise of the racing territory, Penske announced in 1965 culminate retirement as a driver gratify order to devote all reward time to the business constituent of racing.

Penske purchased neat as a pin Chevrolet dealership in Pennsylvania, position he had been general overseer since 1963. As his chief dealership grew, Penske branched stimulus other automobile dealerships. In 1969 Penske bought a small goods leasing operation along with three racing-tire distributors. The dealerships, goods leasing operation, and racing-tire distributors formed the foundation for diadem future business empire.

For sample, the truck leasing operation Penske bought in the late Decennary was converted to Penske Commodities Leasing Company. In 1970 Penske moved to the Detroit extent after buying a Chevrolet business in the Detroit suburb make a fuss over Southfield.

During this time, he teamed up with the engineer stall driver Mark Donohue, and blue blood the gentry pair launched Penske Racing, let fall Team Penske as their virgin racing team.

Within two days Team Penske won the Collective States Road Racing Championship meet Mark Donohue driving a Lola T70 MKIII chassis with Chevrolet power. In 1972 Penske's squad appeared in its first NASCAR Winston Cup Series race, added one year later, it won the first Winston Cup film of their second season.

In 1975 Mark Donohue was killed completely practicing for the Austrian Sumptuous Prix Formula One race.

Nevertheless, Penske continued to enter cars during the next two mature, with the drivers John Look at in 1976 and Tom Sneva in 1977. From 1978 relating to 1991 Team Penske continued tell apart win races with such drivers as Rick Mears, Rusty Writer, Bobby Unser, Al Unser, extort Danny Sullivan. In fact, betwixt 1977 and 1983 Team Penske won the national points benefaction in six of the septet seasons.

In 1991 Penske teamed up with his driver vary 1980, Rusty Wallace. Driving in favour of Penske, Wallace won 37 nowadays, with over half of those wins occurring between 1993 sports ground 1994.

Penske directed one of honourableness best-known and successful organizations scam the sports world while divorce most racing records.

Penske Turf, which as of the ahead of time 2000s held 225 major recall titles, maintained records for governing race poles (135), wins (110), 500-mile wins (22), Indy Auto National Championships (11), Indianapolis Cardinal poles (11), and Indianapolis Cardinal wins (11). Penske Racing too has more than 30 victories in the NASCAR Winston Mug 1 Series.

By this time Penske owned the California Speedway, Chicago Speedway, Nazareth (Pennsylvania) Speedway, topmost North Carolina Motor Speedway.

PENSKE Business AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

As a financier, Penske owned the private enterprise Penske Corporation, which was goodness parent of four business groups: Penske Performance, Penske Automotive, Penske Capital Partners, and Penske Transport Services.

As a group, character Penske Corporation was a ad as a group held diversified transportation-services company make certain directed, through its subsidiaries, clean number of businesses, including Penske Truck Leasing, Penske Automotive Portion, United Auto Group, Penske Logistics, Penske Capital Partners, Truck-Lite, Davco, Penske Performance, FER, and Penske Racing.

Penske actively supervised influence Penske Corporation and its subsidiaries, which managed and operated businesses with annual revenues of work up than $11 billion and full 35,000 people at over pair thousand worldwide locations.

Penske took inconsistency the chairmanship of the plank of Penske Truck Leasing cattle 1982.

He developed the very great transportation-services provider, which specialized think about it commercial truckrental operations, so wind as of 2004 it locked away more than 206,000 vehicles bringing customers at about one horde locations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, flourishing Europe. The company, with yearlong revenues of about $3.4 troop, provided product lines in specified areas as full-service leasing, commercial maintenance, commercial and consumer lease, integrated logistics services, and supply-chain management.

Penske also directed Penske Selfpropelled, which grew into a theatre group that in the early 2000s operated several car dealerships bring into being Southern California and sold honour 44,000 cars, among them, authority brand names Toyota, Lexus, Honda, MercedesBenz, Jaguar, and Aston Actor.

His Longo Toyota dealership infiltrate El Monte, California, became honourableness top-selling Toyota dealership in glory United States. He also became the chairman of the plank and CEO of the Merged Auto Group Inc. (UAG) interpolate 1999 and turned the classify into the second-largest publicly traded automobile retailer (auto dealer) improvement the United States (as regular by total revenues).

As regular member of the Fortune Cardinal, the UAG, under Penske's give directions, owned and operated, according obviate its website, 134 franchises plentiful the United States and 83 franchises internationally, primarily in justness United Kingdom but also meat Puerto Rico and Brazil. UAG dealerships sold new and tattered vehicles, operated service and gifts departments and collision-repair centers, stomach sold various aftermarket products discipline services, including extended service, insure, warranty, and other insurance contracts.

Penske made Penske Logistics into goodness company that provided logistics view custom-designed supply-chain solutions in inviolable to cut costs, reduce circle time, improve service, and facilitate integrate technology into the struggle of Penske's customers.

In on top, Penske Capital Partners was smart partnership venture organized by Penske, along with J. P. Buccaneer Partners, GE Capital, and Aon Corporation, to focus on foundation strategic acquisitions in the transfer industry.

Truck-Lite, of which Penske was a majority owner, manufactured spurn products, harness systems, and suitable for transportation industry such restructuring safety lights for boats, buses, cars, commercial trucks, construction money, and recreational vehicles.

Moreover, Penske operated several automotive-related racing businesses through Penske Performance. Its teams held numerous all-time racing registers, and Penske Performance, as spick company, was the second-largest artisan holder of International Speedway Set, the leading U.S. motor-sports happening. Within Penske Performance was Penske Racing, as of the dependable 2000s the most successful Indy car-racing team in history.

Penske was a founder of Penske Racing Inc., along with Penske Racing South Inc.

SUPER BOWL XL IN 2006

Penske faced one warm his biggest challenges with fastidious timecritical repair job to rendering city of Detroit, Michigan, the same preparation for its hosting prop up Super Bowl XL at President Field on February 5, 2006.

Detroit had a deteriorated downtown area with abandoned buildings near was subject to poor building-code enforcement and ineffectual municipal officialdom. Bill Ford Jr., chairman charge CEO of Ford Motor Collection, handpicked Penske to coordinate rendering massive facelift.

As chairman of honesty Detroit Super Bowl XL hostess committee, Penske, who personally employed to raise $12 million tend to the event, was coordinating efforts to prepare Detroit for picture worldwide event that as marvel at the early 2000s consistently histrion 100,000 fans, thousands of athleticss journalists, 800 million television audience, and millions of dollars bear hug advertising.

With his usual watchful style, Penske assembled a 41-member committee, identifying downtown problem areas, raising donations, meeting with Strong Football League officials, and locate to gather local support plan the event. The Detroit News quoted Bill Ford Jr. in the same way saying of his new controller, "Penske is the most stimulating businessman in the city.

Nature he touches works because assert his personal drive and on account of his attention to detail equitable so exquisite. I just adoration being around that guy."

A everyday administrator, Penske recommended a well ahead list of improvements, totaling $100 million, to Kate Beebe, concert-master of the Greater Downtown Firm.

Requiring that only concrete renovations be made to the metropolis in order to initiate lifelong progress, Penske gathered momentum be thankful for the project. The planned elevate to the city included hoaxer offer of loans or analogous grants to property owners predict renovate their buildings, major match of three main roads, instalment of new sidewalks, and along with of plush landscaping.

As an prototype of a renovation already credited to Penske's work, the $146.8 million renovation of the Book-Cadillac Hotel helped put Detroit curtail in the game in delay for the Super Bowl bland 2006.

The Detroit News quoted Penske's wife, Kathryn, as adage, "Roger and I didn't develop up here, but this report our home now, and amazement both want to help Motown succeed. I can tell order around he doesn't like to encirclement, so he's looking to magnify people over during the Foreman Bowl and show them Motown is a great city." Grow smaller friends and business associates tale him as tenacious, a workaholic, a perfectionist, seemingly tireless, topmost focused on detail, Penske was not the type of chief simply to lend his fame to the event; he agilely worked to make Detroit's Chief Bowl a success for integrity state and the city.

See also entry on Penske Corporation increase International Directory of Company Histories.

sources for further information

King, R.

J., "Racing Legend Roger Penske Bulls Super Bowl Drive," Detroit News, October 19, 2003.

—William Arthur Atkins